Wenger hails Welbeck as Arsenal thrash Saints in FA Cup

London (AFP) – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised the mental strength and resilience of Danny Welbeck after the England forward scored twice on his first start since suffering a serious knee injury in May during a 5-0 FA Cup thrashing of Southampton.

Welbeck followed his first-half double at St Mary’s on Saturday with an assist for former Saints star Theo Walcott, who completed his hat-trick in the second half of a comfortable fourth-round win for the Gunners over their Premier League rivals.

Wenger was pleasantly surprised by the display of former Manchester United striker Welbeck, making his first start since a 2-2 draw away to Manchester City in May.

“I didn’t expect him to be at that level,” said veteran French manager Wenger. “I knew that he had worked very hard but you never know how much efficiency there could be to transfer that into a competitive game.

“So it was great to see that he hasn’t lost his runs or his finishing and shows as well that when you are able to channel that frustration at not playing into efficiency, that’s a special guy.”

Wenger added: “You have always two fears, the first is that it takes him too long to get his decision-making (back) and secondly that the player is scared to go into any contact. So when he made the runs and was fighting with the defender, that was a very important moment for me.”

The injury had been Welbeck’s second affecting the same knee since joining Arsenal in 2014 and Wenger was relieved the player had not shown any psychological ill-effects.

– ‘Delighted’ –

“He worked very hard,” Wenger said of the 26-year-old Welbeck. “He went through some moments of very deep disappointment when he had the setback and we had to go in again in the knee, when you are a professional football player that is very difficult. But after the first disappointment he worked even harder.

“He is highly respected inside the club because he has shown so much dedication and never moaned. He has worked very hard and everybody is delighted for him.”

But even Wenger had his doubts over whether Welbeck would come back a second time. “You wonder and I wondered,” he admitted.

The dominant overall display of his team, which featured encouraging performances from Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in midfield, meant Wenger could relax in the directors’ box during the first game of his four-match touchline ban for pushing fourth official Anthony Taylor during the 2-1 league victory over Burnley on January 22.

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Great win, Great game. don’t want to get overhyped because they were playing a smaller clubs B team. See Ox play as a CM reminded me how good him and Sanchez were linking up last winter before his injury. he played on the left behnd Sanchez and the combination was tantalizing with both of there work ethics. I would like to see him play more CM. Coquelin paired with Xhaka is too slow, same with Ramsey